Word.ws English Dictionary

as nervous as a witch

as nervous as a witch adjective: very nervous or restless.

Adjective

(as) nervous as a witch (not comparable)

  1. (Northeastern, US, especially) Very nervous or restless.
    • The nerves often get clogged up, or choked up, both inside and outside: they get clogged up by humours settling on them, [...] and you become as nervous as a witch. Then again, the nervous fluid. what used to be called the animal spirits, or the marrow of the nerve, get thick and clogged; and all...1871, Donald Kennedy, Kennedy on diseases of the skin, page 94
    • […] "a pinch always makes me start up as nervous as a witch, and I never could talk sense during an electric storm. I feel nervous now just to think of it."2021 November 5, Henry Pettit, A Twentieth Century Idealist, Good Press

Questions about as nervous as a witch

What does as nervous as a witch mean?
As nervous as a witch means very nervous or restless.
What part of speech is as nervous as a witch?
As nervous as a witch is an adjective.

Words near as nervous as a witch in the dictionary

  1. as much sinning as sinned against
  2. as much use as a chocolate fireguard
  3. as much use as a chocolate teapot
  4. as near as makes no difference
  5. as near as matters
  6. as nervous as a witch
  7. as of
  8. as of late
  9. as of now
  10. as of right
  11. as of yet

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: as nervous as a witch (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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